We have been asked to draw public attention to the
Continuation Schools Bill, which was brought forward, though not passed, in the House of Lords last Session by the Bishop of Hereford, in order to obtain active support for the measure next Session. Its chief object is to enable the local education authority to fix twelve as the mini- mum age for total exemption from attendance at a public elementary school in the case of boys who have definite agricultural or horticultural employment, provided that the boys so exempted shall attend some recognised evening con- tinuation school in the autumn and winter months. Attend- ance at a Sunday-school or Bible-class, it is declared, shall count as attendance at a continuation school,—a most wise provision, as it will tend to keep the lads under good moral and spiritual influences on Sunday afternoons. In cases where children are exempted from attendance at elementary schools, the attend- ance at the continuation school becomes, of course, obligatory. The intention of the Bill seems to us excellent, and we trust that it may become law next Session. We should like to see a course of physical training, including elementary drill and practice at a rifle range, encouraged, or indeed made obligatory, in the continuation schools, but we suppose that is too much to expect.
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